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Failed to remove printer driver. RRS feed

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    Hi Miya, thank you for reply. Unfortunately your suggestion didn't help :(
    But I found my own workaround that looked like this:

    1. First we removed printer in "Devices and Printers"
    2. Then we stopped print spooler
    3. In registry we opened HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors\
    4. We renamed all Print Processors that were listed. Like Winprint to Winprint.old, Hpcpp107 to Hpcpp107.old, and so on ...
    5. We started print spooler
    6. Removed driver pack in Print Management MMC
    7. Reopened registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors\
    8. Renamed back all Print Processors back to Winprint.old to Winprint, Hpcpp107.old to Hpcpp107, and so on ...
    9. Restart print spooler
    10. Installed new printer drivers
    11. Tested printing

    Maybe this procedure will also help someone else with similar problems :)

    Regards,
    Luka

     

    Wednesday, April 6, 2011 12:59 PM

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  • Question
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    Hi oluka,

    Did you try remove the drive in Safe Mode?

    If it doesn't work, try to delete the printer driver from the registry. Note: Before you modify the registry, please backup it firstly.

    Click Start, input regedit in the search box, press ENTER.

    Find and delete the driver references at the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT X86\Drivers\Version-1

    Restart the Computer.

    Regards,

    Miya

     

     

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    Wednesday, April 6, 2011 6:09 AM
  • Question
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    Hi Miya, thank you for reply. Unfortunately your suggestion didn't help :(
    But I found my own workaround that looked like this:

    1. First we removed printer in "Devices and Printers"
    2. Then we stopped print spooler
    3. In registry we opened HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors\
    4. We renamed all Print Processors that were listed. Like Winprint to Winprint.old, Hpcpp107 to Hpcpp107.old, and so on ...
    5. We started print spooler
    6. Removed driver pack in Print Management MMC
    7. Reopened registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors\
    8. Renamed back all Print Processors back to Winprint.old to Winprint, Hpcpp107.old to Hpcpp107, and so on ...
    9. Restart print spooler
    10. Installed new printer drivers
    11. Tested printing

    Maybe this procedure will also help someone else with similar problems :)

    Regards,
    Luka

     

    Wednesday, April 6, 2011 12:59 PM
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    Excellent, worked for me.
    Wednesday, December 21, 2011 11:43 PM
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    thank you oluka.

    that worked perfect for me and saved a lot of head scratching.

    Wednesday, March 28, 2012 9:35 AM
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    A year and a half later and you're still saving people!  TYVM for the advice, it worked like a charm! :D
    Thursday, November 29, 2012 5:29 PM
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    Brilliant!

    Worked for me too!
    Was having issues removing HP Universal driver package.

    Thanks for posting this.

    Thursday, February 7, 2013 9:15 AM
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    Here's another solution that seems to work:

    http://www.mysysadmintips.com/windows/clients/170-cant-remove-printer-drivers-in-windows-7-the-specified-printer-driver-is-currently-in-use

    Basically, stop the print spooler service, restart it, and delete the printer driver within 1 second after starting the spooler.

    • Proposed as answer by Firro7 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 10:39 AM
    Wednesday, February 20, 2013 3:46 PM
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    Excellent tip, works like a champion!

    Don't know what I did to microsoft to deserve not being able to print but I haven't been able to for days and this finally brought it back, thank you so much.

    Monday, July 22, 2013 8:49 AM
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    This solved a long ongoing issue for our institute. Thanks!!!
    Friday, December 6, 2013 11:12 AM
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    thank you !! it worked for me too !!
    Thursday, April 10, 2014 7:16 AM
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    Baodad's solution works. You don't need to modify the registry, just delete the driver immediately after starting the spooler.
    Wednesday, November 12, 2014 11:23 AM
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    You CANNOT remove the driver in Safe Mode - it gives an error saying you cannot remove a printer driver when the Print Spooler is not running; and you cannot enable this service is Safe Mode.

    PLEASE do not waste people's time with faulty recommendations that have not been tested.

    Sunday, May 31, 2015 11:57 PM
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    Perfect! Worked for me. Had a network receipt printer showing offline after updating the driver for Citizen CT-S4000. I kept getting a message prompting that the driver was still in use while trying to remove the driver package in print management.
    Wednesday, August 19, 2015 10:47 PM
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    Hi,

    it`s usually a problem with SNMP protocol, when the network printer is offline in windows /but u can ping it/..

    Try to check if SNMP is enabled on printer /via web interface/ or just disable SNMP for that printer in windows - Printer properties - Port`s tab - Configure Port and uncheck "SNMP Status Enabled"

    Sunday, September 6, 2015 9:00 AM
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    Luka,

    That worked like a charm. One of the host based HP drivers was causing this problem.

    You rock!

    Tuesday, September 15, 2015 3:15 AM
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    Worked, thanks!
    Tuesday, September 29, 2015 11:01 AM
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    This REALLY saved me a lot of headache! Thank you!!
    Friday, November 13, 2015 3:51 PM
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    Should you stop the print spooler after step 6?
    Thursday, July 14, 2016 12:20 PM
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    Thanks Luka, that did the business :D
    Thursday, September 22, 2016 12:15 PM
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    Thank you very much for your procedure. It works.:)
    Thursday, March 9, 2017 12:24 AM
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    All I had to do was restart the print spooler.
    Thursday, September 28, 2017 5:30 PM
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    Yes, same here, however i'm sure we are using windows 10 , where as the original poster was using windows 7 or 8 clients. 

    ~qhdevon43

    Tuesday, September 25, 2018 9:18 PM
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    Thank you!! Nothing else seemed to be working!
    Tuesday, April 16, 2019 9:00 PM
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    OMG - THANK YOU!  Nothing else worked.  Maybe you should add change the winprint.old > winprint.dll (what is was previously).  
    Friday, April 19, 2019 2:09 AM
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    Great ! it works for me :)
    Thanks for the sharing info.
    Monday, August 26, 2019 10:11 AM
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    Perfect. Working for me...

    Saturday, February 15, 2020 9:07 AM